Careers and employability
Your MA is your first step towards exciting career pathways or further education. Our students have a very high level of employability and their graduate destinations are broad and varied.
Careers Support
The transferable skills you acquire during your MA, such as research, analysis, and presentation, are vital in the job market. Not only will you develop these skills throughout your programme, but you’ll also benefit from dedicated career support that gives you a further competitive advantage. Specialists in our careers department will assist you with all aspects of job hunting. They offer events tailored to History students on a variety of subjects, from CV and application writing to networking skills development. Plus, as a Russell Group university, we have unrivalled links with a variety of industries.
Students have gone on to work at many prestigious organisations, such as the BBC, and at prestigious academic presses like Polity Press. They’ve secured roles as political advisers in Westminster, the European Parliament, and on congressional campaigns in the US at NGOs like Global Witness as researchers in finance in teaching.
Throughout your studies, you’ll have access to a dedicated Careers Consultant. The Careers service offers a range of sessions designed to prepare you for life as a graduate, such as one-to-one advice clinics, workshops, and evening events tailored to History students that will focus on, for example, interview technique, CV writing, and ways to build networks. You can also get advice and guidance on internships and work placements from the Careers Service.
Learn more about our Careers and Enterprise Service.
Support we offer to our postgraduate students
121 careers support
The School of History has a dedicated Careers Consultant who’s available for 121 careers conversations. These 20-minute sessions can look at future job options, gaining work experience, or moving onto further study. As a Queen Mary student, you will have access to our full range of careers support for three years after you graduate.
Book a careers appointment here.
Humanities and social science internship team
As a history student, you'll have access to exclusive Queen Mary internships delivered by our in-house team with some of the most dynamic organisations in London.
You can find the latest opportunities here.
Practice interview service
If you’ve been invited by an employer to an interview, you will be offered interview practice with our careers team. Students can book a 40-minute 121 interview coaching session here.
Museum and Cultural Heritage alumni panel
We host an annual event that allows current students to network with some of Queen Mary’s talented alumni now in the Museums and Cultural Heritage sector. Previous organisations include: The British Museum, English Heritage, The Imperial War Museum, and The Foundling Museum. Students can ask relevant questions and learn how their peers have utilised the wide range of skills they gained from their history undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications with Queen Mary.
History postgraduate careers lunch
All master’s students are invited to lunch with our dedicated History Career Consultant in their first semester. Topics of conversation include an overview of options with History, making the best use of career opportunities at Queen Mary, and an initial discussion of master’s students' ideas of where they want to go next.
Application advice and CV checking service
Gain access to one-to-one support for 20-minute sessions, helping to perfect CVs, applications, cover letters, and further study applications.
Our students come from a rich variety of backgrounds and pursue different goals, including positions within Museums and cultural heritage, Archiving, Journalism, Law, Government, NGOs, continuing in academia, and many others.— Andy Walsh, History Careers Consultant
Opportunities to put theory into practice:
We offer our students real-life skills alongside their degree programmes, helping them to thrive in both academic and careers fields.
History and Heritage internship module
Our History and Heritage internship module offers you the unique opportunity to complete a placement with one of our 60+ internship partners in the heritage sector. The module will enable you to gain real-life work experience in museums, archives, galleries, and community projects, developing vital transferable skills and access to professional networks.
qHeritage
Engage with Heritage initiatives with qHeritage.
qHeritage is a pillar of Queen Mary University of London's award-winning student knowledge exchange programme SKETCH. We provide bespoke services to support heritage, public history, and community organisations while offering Queen Mary students a unique opportunity to make a real difference in the heritage sector.
Mile End Institute
The Mile End Institute is our primary centre for the study and discussion of the major issues in British politics, policymaking, and public life. There are year-round events with high-profile politicians and policymakers, with recent guest speakers including Yvette Cooper MP, Sir Simon Schama, Sir David Lidington, Rushanara Ali MP. As a Queen Mary student, you can get involved with the Mile End Institute as a Student Ambassador or Intern, as well as attend the lectures and networking with speakers.
Further study
While researching and writing your MA, you may discover a specific subject area that you would like to investigate at doctoral level.
Our PhD students benefit from the expertise of our academics, Queen Mary’s fertile research culture, and easy access to London’s best libraries, galleries, museums and archives.
What does a PhD involve?
- A PhD in History is an exercise in original and individual research, framed within a historiographical context.
- Full-time, a PhD takes three years, or six years at part-time.
- This challenging undertaking is an individual endeavour, but one which is supported by an expert supervisor. You will also have the encouragement of a mentor and the diverse research environment of the School.
Find out more about what a PhD involves.
PhD staff
Our academic staff are always available to assist with applications and offer guidance on looking for PhD funding and supervision. In many cases, PhD students meet their supervisors during their MA programme.
Our academic range of research expertise is second to none. They cover a huge variety of historical periods, themes, regions and eras. Full details are available on staff profile pages.
Our postgraduate students in academia
Many of our graduates have done or are currently doing PhDs or are in academia in London and other institutions, from Oxford and Cambridge to Berkeley and Yale. These include:
- Dr Jessica Patterson, Lecturer in the History of Political Thought, Fellow and Director of Studies, Magdalen College, University of Cambridge
- Dr Paul Sagar, Lecturer in Political Theory, King’s College London
- Dr Adela Halo, Lecturer in History of Political Thought, University College London
- Dr Alessandro de Arcangelis, Lecturer in Intellectual History, University College London
- Dr Signy Gutnick Allen, Department of History, University of Zurich
- Dr Elias Buchetmann, Lecturer in Early Modern History and Research Associate, University of Rostock
- Dr Xinxian Zhu, Assistant professor at the Institute of Philosophy, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, China
- Dr Max Skjönsberg, Assistant Professor of Humanities, University of Florida, Hamilton Center
- Dr Vanessa Lim, Assistant Professor, Seoul National University
- Dr Lisa Kattenberg, Assistant Professor in Early Modern Intellectual History, University of Amsterdam